BRAND NEW VERSION FOR 2024

Underwater Foraging

Join author of Underwater foraging - freediving for food, Ian Donald, on a two day marine hunting course

Want to learn how to gather your own food from the sea  by hand and by polespear.

Want to learn to freedive and polespear with sustainability at the forefront, in the clean Cornish seas?

Want to learn incredible life skills that could change the way you look at the ocean forever?

Become an underwater hunter today

Ian Donald has been teaching freediving, underwater foraging and spearfishing since 2009 and is today one of the most respected and experienced qualified instructors in the world. 

His goal has always been to teach underwater hunting in the most sustainable way possible, so this new 2 day version of his classic discover underwater foraging course is the culmination of all that experience.

This is not a conventional spearfishing course. You will be taught instead techniques using modern polespears, which force you to get closer and be better.  These polespears are also easier to travel with and can catch anything a gun can all the while improving your overall technique. You will also focus on hand foraging and learning about all thats available rather than just fish.

Time underwater rather than just depth will be a priority, as this will really help your diving and productivity.

This whole approach can make you a better hunter, more stealthy and more importantly for the ecology of the ocean, give you the time and knowledge to make the right choice. Is the fish, crustacean, mollusc or seaweed the right species? Is it the right size? Is it too big or too small? Is it locally sustainable? Does it taste nice? Theres a lot to think about!

In collaboration with The Cornwall good Seafood Guide, The Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Seasearch become an underwater forager and gain a closer understanding of the sea and what you can catch or gather to eat, with the smallest possible effect on the local ecology.

Spearfishers have the capacity to hunt areas that fishing boats simply cant access, therby damaging, disrupting or even destroying critical breeding and feeding areas

However if you approach it with a different mindset, and with the courage to leave ‘a catch of a lifetime’ to swim another day, you can be an instrument of positive change.

You will also have the opportunity to collect info for Seasearch,  a fantastic initiative that uses recreartional divers to gather information about marine habitats in the UK.

Expand your catch with superfoods like edible seaweeds, shellfish and molluscs

To enter the water with one thing in mind, to only catch fish, is to ignore some of the greatest gifts the sea has to offer. With fish stocks under constant pressure its our responsibility to spread the ‘net’ and use our skills to gather from of a wider pool of edible flora and fauna. Seaweeds are superfoods of the highest order, learn which ones you can easily find and how to prepare them. Molluscs and shellfish offer a protein source that is often more easily managed than free swimming fish.

Each course will benefit from live sustainability information provided by The Cornwall Good seafood guide and the Marine sustainability officer of the Cornwall wildlife trust, Matt Slater. You may even be able to help gather data for Seasearch on your course.

Day One

Day Two

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Use the calendar below to book your 2-Day Underwater Foraging course

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May 2024

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Underwater Foraging
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